This invention relates to a connector having terminals therein which is disengageably mateable to a complementary connector, and particularly to identical mateable connectors with identical terminals therein. The invention will find extensive use in the communications industry.
Splicing of wires in one cable to those in another cable is a common operation in the telephone industry. Originally, the operation was carried out by means of crimpable electrical connecting devices which served to connect the individual wires. More recently, splicing operations were carried out by modular multi-contact connectors of the type shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,772,635; 3,708,779; 3,239,796; and 3,611,522. These generally comprise a module with terminals therein having wire receiving slots at both of their ends. Pluggability of these terminals is limited at best.
The feature of unlimited pluggability of connector modules is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,312, which discloses stackable modules with terminals therein having a wire receiving end and a mating end which engages the wire receiving end of terminals in a complementary connector. While presenting major improvements over the previously used connectors, considerable force is required to engage and disengage such connectors where large numbers of terminals are involved.